The Cast

Jack Nicholson

(Jake Gittes, Chinatown/The Two Jakes)

Three-time Oscar winner and Hollywood legend, Jack Nicholson has appeared in nearly 70 films during a career lasting over fifty years.

From a humble start in low budget films during the 1950s and 60s, Jack's big break came in 1969, with his Oscar-nominated role as alcoholic lawyer George Hanson in Easy Rider. From there, he would go on to star in several of the quintessential films of the 1970s, including Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Carnal Knowledge and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which would net him his first Academy Award.

The 1980s saw Jack's star continue to rise, beginning with his iconic portrayal of the psychotic Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, continuing with memorable performances in the likes of Reds, Prizzi's Honor, The Witches Of Eastwick, Ironweed and Terms Of Endearment, for which he was awarded his second Oscar. He ended the decade in spectacular fashion, with his highest-profile role ever – playing The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman.

The following two decades would show no signs of Jack slowing down, as he continued to collect accolades and awards for his turns in such films as A Few Good Men, The Crossing Guard, Mars Attacks!, As Good As It Gets, The Pledge, About Schmidt and The Departed. His most recent appearance was in the romantic comedy, How Do You Know.

Faye Dunaway

(Evelyn Mulwray, Chinatown/The Two Jakes [voiceover])

After a brief turn as a beauty queen and roles in a few small films, little-known actress Faye Dunaway was propelled to superstardom in 1967 with her role as Bonnie Parker in the seminal Bonnie And Clyde.

She starred in such notable films of the 1960s and 70s as The Thomas Crown Affair, Little Big Man, 3 Days Of The Condor, The Eyes Of Laura Mars and Network, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

A period of less-than-memorable films followed her performance as Joan Crawford in the 1981 camp classic Mommie Dearest, the film she would later claim ruined her career. However, she bounced back in 1987 with an acclaimed performance alongside Mickey Rourke in Barfly, and since then, has continued to appear regularly in films and on television. She has most recently directed and acted in the upcoming MasterClass, a film adaptation of the Terrence McNally stage play about opera singer Maria Callas.

John Huston

(Noah Cross, Chinatown)

One-time boxer, journalist, painter, author, playwright, cavalry rider, and once described as "cinema's Ernest Hemingway", John Huston began his career in Hollywood in 1931 as a writer, before taking the director's chair in 1941 for the Bogart classic The Maltese Falcon. He would go on to write and direct such classics as The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, The Misfits, The Man Who Would Be King and Prizzi's Honor.

Huston received two Oscars in 1949 for writing and directing The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre and was the recipient of the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1983. As the son of Walter Huston and father of Anjelica Huston, he is the only person to have directed both a parent (in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre) and a child (in Prizzi's Honor) to Academy Award wins. The Hustons were also the first family with three generations of Oscar winners.

In later years, Huston also acted in a number of films, including Casino Royale, The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean and Orson Welles' unfinished The Other Side Of The Wind.

He died in 1987, aged eighty, after directing the adaptation of James Joyce's The Dead, starring his daughter Anjelica and written by his son, Tony.

Harvey Keitel

(Jake Berman, The Two Jakes)

Harvey Keitel made his film debut in 1967 in Martin Scorsese's first feature, Who's That Knocking At My Door, beginning a collaboration that would continue throughout the next two decades with Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver and The Last Temptation Of Christ.

It was not until the 1990s, however, that Keitel rose to real fame, with roles in Thelma and Louise, Bugsy, and, perhaps most notably, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. He would become something of a Tarantino regular, appearing in Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Inglourious Basterds.

His other credits include The Duellists, Bad Lieutenant, The Piano, Cop Land, Red Dragon, Life On Mars and Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom.

Meg Tilly

(Kitty Berman, The Two Jakes)

Following several years with the Connecticut Ballet Company and the Throne Dance Theatre, Meg Tilly made her screen debut in Alan Parker's Fame. However, her pursuit of a career as a dancer was cut short by a back injury, after which she turned to acting. A small appearance on TV's Hill Street Blues would lead to roles in The Big Chill and Psycho II, and eventually an Oscar nomination for her performance in Agnes Of God.

Tilly's later films included Masquerade,Body Snatchers and Milos Forman's Valmont,before she retired from acting in the mid-1990s to focus on other creative endeavours, publishing her first book, Singing Songs, in 1994. Further novels include the harrowing Gemma (2006), Porcupine (2007) and First Time (2008).

She has recently returned to acting, in the television series Caprica and Bomb Girls, and on stage in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?.

Perry Lopez

(Lou Escobar, Chinatown/The Two Jakes)

Seasoned film and television actor, Lopez's screen career began at Warner Bros in 1955, where he featured in a number of B-movies and Westerns, including Creature From The Black Lagoon and The Lone Ranger. He would then move on to television roles, appearing in such shows as Zorro, Bonanza, StarTrek and Charlie's Angels.

He died in 2008.

Madeleine Stowe

(Lillian Bodine, The Two Jakes)

After abandoning her childhood ambition of becoming a concert pianist, Madeleine Stowe began acting at a Beverly Hills theatre while studying cinema and journalism at the University Of Southern California. She spent the better part of the 1980s in supporting roles on TV and in films, before landing starring roles in Stakeout and alongside Kevin Costner in Revenge.

Since then, her credits have included Unlawful Entry, The Last Of The Mohicans, Short Cuts, Twelve Monkeys, We Were Soldiers and the hit TV series Revenge.

She is set to make her directorial debut with Unbound Captives, starring Rachel Weisz and Hugh Jackman.

Richard Farnsworth

(Earl Rawley, The Two Jakes)

Discovered as a teenage stable hand, Richard Farnsworth worked as a Hollywood stuntman for over thirty years, on such films as Gone With The Wind, Duel In The Sun, The Wild One, Spartacus and Blazing Saddles, before turning to acting roles that extended beyond one or two lines.

He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in Comes a Horseman and received further accolades for The Grey Fox. Other notable films he appeared in include The Natural, Misery, Havana and The Getaway. His final film was David Lynch's The Straight Story, for which he received widespread acclaim and another Academy Award nomination.

Following a 1999 diagnosis of terminal bone cancer, and after making The Straight Story while in a great deal of pain, he took his own life in 2000.

Rubén Blades
(Mickey Nice, The Two Jakes)
An icon in his home country of Panama, Blades has managed to juggle successful careers as a musician, actor, lawyer and political activist, including running for the Panamanian presidency in 1994.
He is best known as a musician in the Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz genres, with ten Grammy awards to his name. He also served as Panama's Minister of Tourism from 2004 to 2009.
His numerous film credits include The Milagro Beanfield War, Mo' Better Blues, Predator 2, The Devil's Own, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, and Safe House.

Eli Wallach

(Cotton Weinberger, The Two Jakes)

Best known for his unforgettable performance as the bandit Tuco in Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Eli Wallach made his screen debut in Elia Kazan's controversial Baby Doll in 1956, and went on to forge a long career as a character actor, appearing in such films as The Magnificent Seven, The Misfits, Lord Jim and The Godfather: Part III. He also has numerous TV credits, including Kojak, Murder, She Wrote, L.A. Law, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and, most famously, as Mr Freeze in the 1960s Batman series.

Wallach continued to act well into his nineties, most recently in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer.
He died in June of 2014, aged 98.

James Hong(Kahn, Chinatown/The Two Jakes)

Having appeared in over three hundred films and TV series, including Blade Runner, The A-Team, Big Trouble In Little China, Seinfeld and The West Wing, James Hong is one of the most well-recognised character actors on both big and small screens. He is currently filming the sci-fi thriller Patriot Act.

Burt Young

(Curly, Chinatown)

Actor, painter, playwright and published author, Burt Young is most famous for his role as Rocky Balboa's brother-in-law Paulie in the Rocky film series. Other notable film and TV credits include The Pope Of Greenwich Village, Once Upon A Time In America, The Last Don, Miami Vice and The Sopranos.

Joe Mantell

(Lawrence Walsh, Chinatown/The Two Jakes)

Veteran character actor with more than 70 film and television credits to his name, Mantell was nominated for an Academy Award in 1956 for his role as Angie, the title character's best friend in Marty. He also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and TV shows including The Untouchables and The Twilight Zone, before delivering one of cinema's most memorable lines in Chinatown.

He passed away in 2010 at the age of 94.

Bruce Glover
(Duffy, Chinatown)
Character actor known best for playing Mr Wint, one half of the gay assassin team Wint and Kidd in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. Glover's other film and TV credits include Perry Mason, Bonanza, The Mod Squad, The A-Team and Ghost World.
He has been teaching acting since the 1950s, and continues to do so. He is also the father of actor Crispin Glover.

Richard Bakalyan
(Detective Loach, Chinatown)
Began his acting career in the 1950s playing juvenile delinquents, then moved on to such films and TV shows as The Untouchables, Wagon Train, Robin and the 7 Hoods, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The St Valentines Day Massacre, Batman, The Streets Of San Francisco and Charlie's Angels. He was also a regular on The Bobby Darin Show.
He most recently appeared on the TV show My Name Is Earl in 2008.

Frederic Forrest
(Chuck Newty, The Two Jakes)
Theatre actor who struggled to break into movies for the first part of his career, Forrest first gained real fame as Chef in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, and followed up with an Oscar-nominated performance in The Rose.
After roles in several unsuccessful films, including Coppola's disastrous One From The Heart, Forrest began to appear regularly on television, in shows such as 21 Jump Street and Lonesome Dove. He would continue to act in films, including Tucker: A Man and his Dream, Music Box and Falling Down. His most recent appearance was in the 2006 political thriller All The King's Men.

Tracey Walter
(Tyrone Otley, The Two Jakes)
With over a hundred film and television credits to his name, Tracey Walter has carved out a long and successful career as a character actor, perhaps best known for his role as the Joker's sidekick, Bob the Goon, in Tim Burton's Batman.
He is also a regular actor in Jonathan Demme's films, having appeared in Something Wild, Married to the Mob, The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Beloved and The Manchurian Candidate.
Among his other numerous credits are Best of the West, HonkytonkMan, Moonlighting, City Slickers, On the Air, Nash Bridges, Justice League, Reno 911! and Criminal Minds.

David Keith
(Detective Lieutenant Loach, The Two Jakes)
Actor and director, David Keith made his acting debut in 1978 on TV's Happy Days. After several TV appearances, the following year he broke into films with parts in The Great Santini and The Rose.
Other notable credits include Brubaker, An Officer and a Gentleman, Firestarter, Daredevil, Hawaii Five-O and the part of Elvis Presley in Heartbreak Hotel.
He has also directed the feature films The Curse, The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck and Waterville.
Keith is a spokesperson and national advisory board member of PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children.

Jeff Morris
(Ralph Tilton, The Two Jakes)
Texas-raised actor usually recognised as Bob, the owner of 'Bob's Country Bunker' in The Blues Brothers. Morris's film and TV credits include Kelly's Heroes, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible and CHiPs. A close friend of Jack Nicholson, he appeared alongside him in Goin' South, The Border, Ironweed, The Crossing Guard, and Anger Management.
He passed away in 2004.

Diane Ladd
(Ida Sessions, Chinatown)
Accomplished actress with over a hundred film and television credits, Ladd acted on television for nearly two decades before breaking into cinema in Roger Corman's The Wild Angels.
Following several more years in TV and low-budget films, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Ladd continued to act regularly, attracting great attention for her Oscar-nominated role as Marietta Fortune in David Lynch's Wild At Heart, and received another nomination the following year for Rambling Rose, in which she acted alongside Laura Dern, her daughter by ex-husband Bruce Dern.
She also wrote, directed, produced and starred in the psychological thriller Mrs Munck.
Diane Ladd most recently appeared in the HBO series Enlightened.

John Hillerman
(Yelburton, Chinatown)
While he'll be forever remembered as the snobbish Jonathan Higgins on TV's Magnum PI, John Hillerman also appeared in such films as The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, The Day of the Locust and Blazing Saddles. Among his numerous TV credits are Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat and Wonder Woman.